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Pope favours simplicity

Pope Francis has encouraged people in developed countries to live more simply.

At Christmas Eve mass the Pope encouraged people to live "not by devouring and hoarding, but by sharing and giving".

He continued: "Let us ask ourselves: Do I really need all these material objects and complicated recipes for living? Can I manage without all these unnecessary extras and live a life of greater simplicity?


"For many people, life's meaning is found in possessing, in having an excess of material objects. An insatiable greed marks all human history, even today, when, paradoxically, a few dine luxuriantly while all too many go without the daily bread needed to survive."

It certainly makes me think. We do spend a lot of money on relatively meaningless things while so many of our fellow human beings have so little.

News source: BBC World News

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